Friend and family!

Well hello everyone out in the world! There wasn't much crazy stuff this week so sorry if this is short!

We have 2 new people that we are teaching! Mathew and Andrew! They are the nephews of a family in our ward and just moved up from Samoa. They are 16 and 21 and they love the church and will hopefully be baptized soon! I will keep you updated with them! 

We got to do a zone community service thing this week that was really cool. We basically were the "security" at an event that helped homeless people get some help they needed. There was tons of people! Oh and the best part was we got to wear these super snazzy yellow vests that said "safety patrol" so we felt pretty cool! Haha

We had the worldwide missionary broadcast this week and it was awesome with some big announcements! But I already told you guys about the morning schedule thing and then we don't have as many key indicators! It's pretty cool! 

The thought we have been sharing in our dinners this week is the story of nephi and getting the plates. And how he was commanded to go get them but it wasn't easy for him. It didn't happen the first time and it didn't even happen the second either. And even the third time it wasn't a walk in the park. But he had the attitude of I will go and do and that's how he got through it. The lord gives us trials and tribulations and things we need to do but sometimes it's a lot harder than we thought it would be so we give up or murmur!... but we need the attitude of nephi! So always remember...

"I WILL GO AND DO"

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

P.s. Anchorage hit 40 degrees this week and it felt like summertime haha!

Friends and family!

Well hello everyone! This was probably one of the coldest weeks of my life. In the beginning of the week it was -15 throughout the day and that's fetching cold! Up in fair banks if was -50s so I'm just grateful I'm in anchorage right now! Haha and then it's been snowing the past couple days non stop so we have a ton of snow! There was so much that they actually canceled church on Sunday in the north anchorage stake so that's pretty crazy! But there's an upside with all the snow! Tons and tons of service! All week we've been helping people get unstuck! Haha and then on Saturday we went and shoveled people's driveways and walkways! It was really cool to see how grateful people were!

We got to have a lesson with Natasha this week too! We haven't been able to meet with her for a while now but we finally did. So if you don't remember her she is the one who was Jewish and so she doesn't really believe in Jesus Christ so we are sending her scriptures every day to read! She said she wants to be baptized so that's good! But we have a lot of help from the ward with her so that's a good thing.

We did a lot of visiting less active people this week and a lot of service! I'm thankful for all that you all do for me! Be safe and remember:

"To be on the pathway to perfection we need to have:

1. An attitude of gratitude
2. A longing for learning
3. A devotion to discipline
4. A willingness to work" ~President Thomas S Monson

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

P.s. I think I'm sick and need to go back to Samoa! Haha

Friends and family!!

Well this week was filled with transfers! Elder Chan got safe and
sound to the lake Otis ward and I got my new companion! Elder vaioa!
He is from Samoa and from the island I served on! He is soooo funny
and we have the best time together and I've learned so much Samoan
from him. So one cool thing is he served in Samoa for a bit while he
was waiting for his visa and he knows my trainer and other
missionaries and it's super cool! While transfers were going we got to
have elder Judd come and stay with us for a night and so that was
pretty fun to catch up with him!

So one really cool thing that I forgot to mention in my last email was
I finished the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time on my mission! It's
weird to think that because if you knew me before the mission you
would know that you couldn't pay to read a book haha! So it was a cool
little accomplishment and my goal is two more times! But I know it's
true and there's now way it can't be. And if you question if it is...
READ IT! I'm grateful for the knowledge it gives us and it just makes
everything make sense!

We have a new investigator we are teaching and His name is tommy isaia
and his wife is a member and most of his family! He was a former
investigator and a couple weeks ago we went over and just tried to
visit him and he let us in and we taught him he restoration and then
last Monday night we had another lesson with him and we read the Book
of Mormon with him. He reads it on his own and always tells us how he
is just looking for the truth and he thinks he might have found it!
Haha so it's been super cool to teach him and help him find the truth!
The struggle we run into with him is he works all week including all
day Sunday so we are going to help him understand the importance of
church.

And well I don't know how it is in Utah but out here there is so much
snow! It's been snowing the last couple days and the snow plows are
staying busy for sure!

And well that's some of the highlights of the week! Thank you for all
that you do for me! Stay safe everyone and always remember CPR!
(C-Church P-Pray R-Read) to keep yourself alive you need to do those
things!

Alma 37:37
Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for
good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that
he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the
morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these
things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

#1- we found this cool snow fort thingy with stairs
#2- SNOW!
#3-4- some moose we found a but ago but I didn't send the pictures!

Friends and family!

Well this week was full of tons of cool news! So first off we got
transfer calls and elder Chan Is leaving to the lake Otis Samoan ward
and I'm staying and getting elder vaioa! I haven't really met him but
he hasn't been out too long and is hilarious and awesome from what
everyone says so I'm excited!

On Friday we had zone meeting and it went really good! So something
really cool is church headquarters has made some changes to the
missionary schedule. So they basically leave it up to you how you want
to schedule it. Basically you are given the times of how long you need
to do certain things but you can schedule them however you want. It's
pretty cool! So between 6:30 and 10 you have to do an hour of personal
study and a half hour to plan your day! And we don't plan at night
anymore. So you just have to get those done anytime between those
hours! And then p day is a little longer! That was probably really
confusing and you probably don't think it's that big of a deal.... but
ITS A BIG DEAL! Haha

But also at zone meeting we talked about ether 12:27 and going through
trials and tribulations. If you haven't seen it I invite all you to go
watch the "bearing our burdens with hope" Mormon message. We all have
trials and hard things to go through but our trials and burdens are
what help us become who god knows we can become. So keep enduring and
soon you'll see change!

This week we went on exchanges with the Spanish elders and I actually
went to the Spanish ward for a day and it was really cool! I was with
elder henderson who has been out 6 weeks now so it was really fun!
He's so funny! We had a really cool experience teaching this lady
about the plan of salvation. She had just lost her friend to suicide
and her husband was going through some hard things and she thought it
was perfect! It was cool to see the comfort she felt when we taught it
to her!

And well we did lots of oyming and visiting former investigators this
week! And I think that's a little bit of our week for you guys! Thanks
for everything you all do for me! Love you guys!

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

Picture #1 so elder Chan and I were walking back from a house and
getting back in the truck and he slipped and fell in the snow and I
took a picture of it! Haha I'm such a good companion! And then he was
getting in and slipped and fell again! Haha it was funny for me to
watch but not for elder Chan!

Picture #2 I'm gonna miss elder Chan!!

Friends and family!

Well I guess first off happy New Years everyone! I hope you all had a
great holiday season! I can officially say I come home this year so
that's a bit weird to get used to.

This week we got to have zone conference and it was really good! There
was some really good trainings and I learned a lot. We talked a lot
about obedience, caring for your companion, staying focused and being
the light! We are all as members of the church the light to the world.
We need to all be ready and prepared to share the gospel with anybody
and well.. lighting the world with our actions!

We went on exchanges this week and I was with elder bacon again! I
served with him out in kodiak when I first got there so it was really
good to be with him again! We did a lot of street contacting and
talking to people!

This week we did a lot of oyming and trying former investigators. We
talked to tons of people downtown and well.. everywhere we could! We
didn't get to teach as much us we wanted to but we talked to tons of
people so it was good!

We got a referral for this lady and we went and tried to visit them
and a younger kid answered so we talked to him for a while and he
wasn't a member but was from Kansas and asked about Joseph smith so we
explained who He was and it went pretty good! Then his aunt came in
and she was actually someone we ran into at Walmart one time and she
said she wanted to come to our church but we lost her number so we
couldn't talk to her but god led us to her! So we got to talked to her
for a bit and so this week we hopefully will get to visit with them
more!

Overall it was pretty good! It still blows my mind it's 2017! Maybe we
all remember and keep our New Years resolutions! Haha love you all!

"I cannon never accomplished anything, I can try has wrought wonders."

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson


Anchorage north zone
Top of a parking garage pics

Friends and family!

Well MERRY CHRISTMAS Everyone! I hope you all had an awesome Christmas!

This week was awesome for us! We got to visit lots of people and
invite them to our ward party and church on Sunday and most of them
came! I feel like maybe it was because we told them it was only
sacrament meeting on Christmas! Haha

We had our ward party on Friday and it went super good. There were
TONS of people that showed up! We of course had tons of food then they
did some dance performances and it was so good! The Samoan wards know
how to party!!

So Christmas Eve was probably one of the coolest and funniest times of
my mission! So us and some other missionaries decided to go out carol!
So we all met at the chapel  at 7pm and if turned into a mini football
game somehow haha! But them we went to a couple of house and carolled
and it went super good and so we decided hey let's go do this
downtown! We will walk around and sing! So we all went downtown and
start just singing "angels we had heard on high" and "come all ye
faithful" to random people on the streets and then a bar called us in
and we all sang to them! Then... the next door restaurant called us in
to sing for them! It was seriously the best thing ever! It made so
many people smile so hopefully we made a difference in some people's
lives! And that's the super awesome Christmas Eve story! I'll send the
video of us singing in the parking garage after we were done!

Christmas was really awesome! It was so good to talk to my family! One
1 more skype day left so that's pretty weird!

Well I guess that's a little bit of our Christmas week for you guys! I
hope you all have a great week and I'm grateful for all of you. And
I'm grateful for my savior and his love. He is the reason for season
and he is the reason why we are who we are and how we can become who
god wants us to become!

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

Friends and family!

Well everyone I hope you had a great week! We had a nice and cold week up here!

Tuesday we went to a big community service thing at the Sullivan arena
here and it was basically helping to give out food and presents all
day for Christmas! It was really cool and we got to talk to tons of
people as we went through the line with them. Then on Friday afternoon
we went and helped and member move some stuff to a new house. We moved
a matress and box spring, a couple dressers, a big couch,
entertainment cabinet and some other stuff in one load with 3 Nissan
frontiers.. so you can imagine how creative we got to load it all up!

On Wednesday we got the opportunity to go to the temple and that was
awesome it was my first time in a little while so it was good to be
back!

We got to teach one of our investigators Natasha this week and so just
a little backstory with her she grew up Jewish so she doesn't believe
in Jesus Christ or the New Testament or anything but it's been
interesting teaching her and helping her learn who he is. She is open
to learning and she is beginning to grow in her testimony so that's
good!

One new thing we tried this week was calling just random people in our
contacts that we didn't know and it's been interesting but also we
have found some people from it! In fact we called a family and they
aren't members. It they are coming back up in January and said they
want to learn more about the church! It was super cool!

On Sunday our talks went really good! I talked about ways we can put
Christ in Christmas! I talked about doing service, showing gratitude,
and being together with family. It's crazy to me that Christmas is so
soon! It feels like it was a month ago we had Christmas! Times flies!
I hope you all have a merry Christmas and remember to put Christ in
Christmas! I'm thankful for all of your and your examples to me. I'm
thankful for my savior and everything he has done for me. And I'm
excited to skype home on Sunday also! And I'm grateful for Skype too!
Haha

I love you all and merry Christmas 🎄🎁

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson